Newspapers request public gunfire test in Waco inquiry

Published: Wednesday, February 16, 2000

WACO {AP} News organizations asked a federal judge Tuesday to open to the public an upcoming field test that is likely to resolve the key outstanding question from the 1993 Branch Davidian siege: whether federal agents fired on the compound in the final fiery moments.

In a motion filed in federal court, lawyers for The Dallas Morning News and The Associated Press argued that the public's interest in the case trumps any secrecy claims that the government could assert concerning its conduct during the 51-day standoff.

But the request appears unlikely to be granted by U.S. District Judge Walter Smith of Waco, who last week rejected a request by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to open the test.

"I am advised that for national security and safety reasons, access will be strictly limited," Smith wrote in a Feb. 8 letter. "Neither the media nor the public will be permitted to attend."

The question of government gunfire is the focus of a Waco reinvestigation by Congressional committees, the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno and Branch Davidian survivors suing the government.

Branch Davidian leader David Koresh and some 80 followers died in an inferno at their compound near Waco, ending the standoff with members of the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Some died from fire, others from gunshots. The government has said all along that sect members were responsible for their own deaths.

Smith is presiding over the wrongful death lawsuit, which is due to go to trial in mid-May.

The judge, who ordered the field test, was to meet with lawyers, scientists and special counsel John Danforth today in St. Louis to iron out details. The test is expected to take place at Fort Hood early next month.

The government long has insisted that none of its agents fired their weapons. But the Branch Davidian plaintiffs, backed by infrared experts, contend that aerial surveillance footage the FBI filmed captured bursts of light that can be nothing other than gunfire a claim the government denies.

The airplane and infrared camera used by the FBI to record surveillance footage during the 1993 standoff will be used for the upcoming field test, as will a similarly equipped British Royal Navy helicopter. Weapons like those carried by federal agents and the Davidians during the siege will be fired during the field test. Footage recorded from the two aircraft will then be compared with the 1993 video to determine if the bursts of light represent gunfire.